A way forward for DACA

Federal lawmakers left Washington, D.C., last Thursday for a 10-day recess without extending or making permanent the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, set to expire March 5. It means the future is uncertain for some 690,000 young people currently protected from deportation.Congress has known for over five months that the program for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children would end March 5. President Trump announced it last September and urged Congress to pass legislation formalizing the legal status of DACA recipients. He even proposed adding a path to citizenship. Speaking of the young people, Trump was quoted at the time as saying, “I have a love for these people, and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.”Undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before their 18th birthday call themselves DREAMers. The name was inspired by a bill first introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2001 – The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (S. 1291). Despite being reintroduced several times, the legislation that would provide DREAMers legal protections hasn’t passed. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Migration Policy Institute and immigrant advocacy organizations, there are 3.6 million DREAMers in the U.S. Half – 1.8 million – meet the age requirement to apply for DACA. But it may be too late. Lawmakers failed to advance any of the four different measures proposed to protect DACA recipients before recessing until Feb. 26. That leaves only five working days when they return to extend or make DACA permanent. Just before recess, there was talk on Capitol Hill but scant support for adding a provision in the 2018 spending bill that Congress must pass by March 23 to temporarily extend DACA. While Democrats and Republicans scold each other for failing to protect DREAMers from deportation, the fate of the program may rest in court. Two federal courts in separate rulings blocked the Trump administration from rescinding DACA so the Justice Department took the issue to the Supreme Court. The department asked the nation’s highest court to bypass federal appellate court and review the two rulings on an “expedited schedule.” Last Friday, justices met behind closed doors to consider the request. Since being enacted in 2012, DACA has protected 800,000 DREAMers from deportation and allowed them to work, enroll in school or enlist in the U.S. military. Ninety-seven percent work or study; 900 are serving in the military, according to federal agencies and advocacy groups. Withdrawing protection from deportation and jeopardizing their future is indefensible and forces obvious and morally compelling questions. If Trump truly cares about DACA recipients, why doesn’t he establish provisions through executive order before March 5 to protect them? A CBS News poll in January showed that 87 percent of respondents support DACA and allowing DREAMers to stay. Given the tremendous support, why doesn’t Congress simply pass a stand-alone DACA bill?